About me

Reader. Writer. Geek.
An advertising creative by profession, I began my career as a copywriter and eventually found my way to the digital marketing world. Today, I serve as Brand Lead at Google India. Here, I work closely with our agencies to lead our marketing creative work - essentially everything you've seen from Google since 2014. And look after Doodles for India and other special Brand projects.
Being married to Saanwari, founder of PoppadumArt, one of India's top indie decor brands, makes me the CxO of her business, where the value of x changes daily. In this role, I sell behind the counter at exhibitions, lug around cartons, and look after all PoppadumArt marketing.
In my spare time, you'll find me glued to my Kindle, probably reading sci-fi, fantasy, histories, biographies and business books. I'm a huge fan of Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time, as also Asimov, Clarke, Superman and Star Wars. My other obsession includes collecting fountain pens to leave behind to any heirs I may have.

Every single one of us that moved into digital marketing from mainline learnt the same way — on our own, and on the job. Devouring all the content we could find; experimenting with design, UI and UX; testing and retesting content strategies on social media; and never believing we knew enough.

Because of the rapidly changing nature of technology, what we learnt last year is obsolete this year. Even today, I find it difficult to identify courses that could broaden my understanding of our industry.

The challenge is great…and so is the opportunity. Senior industry folk suggest that digital marketing education is a multi-hundred-million-dollar industry just waiting to happen.

It’s time educational institutions retool their curricula to focus on digital marketing. Working independently, as well as with industry stakeholders. They’re also going to need to constantly refresh their curricula to keep in tune with changing trends.

I know some institutes have begun to do this. Before I moved to Gurgaon, I used to visit the Northpoint Institute of Learning regularly for sessions on digital marketing. They’ve since added a Digital Marketing specialisation to their Post-Graduate Programme, and I’m proud to say that I consulted with them on planning that.

I’m yet to see institutes like SIMC and MICA adopt such programmes. And if any of their management is reading this, you should know that the lack of well-trained graduates is hurting us.

It’s not just new graduates that need the education. There’s a huge amount of room for executives in ad agencies, media agencies and marketing teams to learn more about digital marketing.

Because until these young professionals have the education, the industry won’t have the evangelists it needs.

The good folks at Udemy, one of the world’s most popular online education platforms, have an offer for readers of What Is An Insight?

The course itself seems pretty robust, covering everything from the basics to engagement, social media, content strategies, blogging and analytics. I think it’s also useful for small-business owners looking to get started with digital marketing. Sign up for the course here.